McNair & Wade Land Co. v. Parker

Citations

• 64 Fla. 371

Syllabus

<p>1. A warranty deed conveying to a land company, its heirs and assigns forever, for the consideration of $100.00, all the green pine and cypress timber on 120 acres of land, with the right to enter on the land with full turpentine and timber privileges, and with the right to construct roads and tram-roads over the land, conveys no paramount fee simple interest in the land itself, but creates a servitude in the land for the benefit of the grantee and its assigns which must be used and enjoyed by such grantee or its assigns within a reasonable time after its creation, and which may be lost by non-use or abandonment.</p> <p>2. Where a bill is filed to obtain a forfeiture of a contract or deed creating a servitude in land on the ground of non-use and abandonment, a demurrer to the bill on the ground that the complainant does not offer to return the purchase money, is not tenable.</p> <p>3. It appears that the agent of the purchaser of the rights conveyed in the deed referred to in the first head note, told the grantors that the timber would be operated as soon as railroad facilities could be obtained. It further appears that a railroad was constructed near the land on which the tim- „ ber stood two years after the deed was made, and nearly eight years before the bill was filed in this case, and that nothing has ever been done towards operating the timber. It further appears that the land on which the timber stands has been the home of the complainants for a great many years: Held, that under these circumstances, the Circuit Judge committed no error in decreeing a forfeiture of the rights acquired under the deed.</p>